Why Do Frogs Croak?

Saturday, September 4, 2010

The frogs are croaking, having a party in the dark, breathing air pregnant with water droplets. I am inside the house, dry and warm, wondering why in the world do the frogs croak, although I am known to repeat the same old nonsense when asked - that they are calling for rain - like it's a fact.

Credit: zahradka-art.com

I should delete this post, I'm embarassing myself. But I'm not going to because I know it's a very interesting topic that has kept you up at night, right? Eccentric much? :p

Well, do you know why they croak? Are they trying to relay some sort of vital message for humanity? If they are actually trying to transmit some kind of information into our hardened heads, how do we decipher their croaking codes?

Credit: canvas-artwork.co.uk

I'm just messing with you, see. The real reason for this very common croaking activity lies in the ritual of mating calls by the male frogs and it is also a method to mark their territory and repel other male frogs who "mistakenly try to mate with them" (Aah, that's interesting!).

And read this, according to ehow.com, some tropical frog species do croak in anticipation of rain during periods of high humidity! I was right all along!

Distinctive loud croaking sounds that intrude your hearing at night is done solely by male frogs who are singing tunes calling for the attention of ready-to-mate lady frogs, and some excited lady frogs may emit reciprocal not-as-loud croaks as well.

Here where I live the croaking gets loud at times and my unscientific research reveals there is a reason for this too. Well the reason is that if you could spot that nasty noisy frog and not kick it, you'll notice that when it's croaking loudly, its slimy body swells up to stretch the vocal chords for the sound to travel even further - perhaps he is throwing his mating-net to reach lady frogs that are some one kilometer-radius away, who knows.

Enough of my frog tales, and if this post has made you feel froggy, I have only one advice: Leap!